51–60 of 70 posts
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Nexus One came with Android 2.1. It got Android 2.2 and Android 2.3 - 2 pretty major versions of Android. The Lumia 900 came with WP 7.5. And now it's not getting WP8, just some features from it. How is that the same?
You forgot 7.8 that has a significant set of features.
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It's a matter of taste, really. I disagree with you, but I can't exactly say that you're wrong . For me, the iOS homescreen is too limiting. All an app can do is show its icon and a number of pending notifications. Android is too far the other way- widgets can be far too attention grabbing and obtrusive- silly animations of clouds moving in front of a sun, nonsense like that. WP hits a great balance between the two-…
Android is "too far the other way" because some developers throw everything they have at making a whiz-bang widget? How about just not using that widget instead of using it to cast the platform in a negative light?
Part of Apple's strength in their walled-garden is that they have created an ecosystem of design. Google tried to do the same, and enforce style guidelines, to no avail. Seems like Microsoft has created a similar ecosystem that encourages usability.
The real foundation for cross-platform code -- from mobile platform to mobile platform -- is whether WP 8 will support OpenGL ES 2.0. The explosion of quality Android games came courtesy of the NDK and ES 2.0, allowing for an almost direct migration of apps from iOS with only minimal I/O changes. Given that the mobile GPUs are targeted to that, I have to think it will. Having portability between the desktop and mobil…
DirectX is going to be much more compelling for developers IF Microsoft can unify Windows, Windows Phone and XBox Live Arcade together. The idea that I could write one game and sell to all of them would be huge.
The real foundation for cross-platform code -- from mobile platform to mobile platform -- is whether WP 8 will support OpenGL ES 2.0. The explosion of quality Android games came courtesy of the NDK and ES 2.0, allowing for an almost direct migration of apps from iOS with only minimal I/O changes. Given that the mobile GPUs are targeted to that, I have to think it will. Having portability between the desktop and mobil…
I have to disagree there. DirectX is going to be much more compelling for developers IF Microsoft can unify Windows, Windows Phone and XBox Live Arcade together. The idea that I could write one game and sell to all of them would be huge.
Aside from the completely different experiences across all of them (both in capabilities of the platform, input methods, etc -- smartphone games tend to be quite unique), from a pure numerical perspective there are what, 55 million or so xboxes sold, and while there are countless PCs, the PC gaming contingent continues to shrink and favours an entirely different type of game.
There are 400 million+ Android devices out there, and 400 million+ iOS devices.
If you're developing a touch/sensor based smartphone app, being able to port it to other smartphones is dramatically more valuable than being able to port it to an entirely different platform.
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Android is "too far the other way" because some developers throw everything they have at making a whiz-bang widget? How about just not using that widget instead of using it to cast the platform in a negative light?
Because almost every single widget is that way. I don't know what it is about Android, but it seems to encourage absolutely awful design. Maybe it's because Metro is very specific and sparse that WP is less visually offensive. Maybe it's the design tools available. I have no idea. But the number of Android widgets I've found that look even moderately good can be counted on one hand.
Pure unadulterated BS. Carry on.
Edit: The mod down is funny. So "almost every" Android widget has "far too attention grabbing and obtrusive- silly animations of clouds moving in front of a sun, nonsense like that" now? Almost every single one? Because that's what he said. I actually have several Android devices and it is absolutely not true that almost every widget is like that.
And furthermore, who says weather widgets with the sun and clouds and whatever else are silly? There are a lot of people that actually like those widgets and it seems a bit arrogant to condescend their tastes just because you think you know better.
This brand of partisan hate and mod-bombing is why I avoid the comment section on almost every tech site these days.
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Android is "too far the other way" because some developers throw everything they have at making a whiz-bang widget? How about just not using that widget instead of using it to cast the platform in a negative light?
"Just because I can use a hammer, doesn't mean I can build a house". Android opens up the entire tool box for you and expects you to be a responsible designer. Problem is, not everybody has the skills to do effective UX. Just because it's pretty, doesn't make it usable. This can tarnish the platform experience. Part of Apple's strength in their walled-garden is that they have created an ecosystem of design. Google tr…
Yeah, the Android experience is so "tarnished" that the OS ships on almost a million phones a day. Did you ever consider the possibility that the majority of consumers have a different opinion of what is useable than you?
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Android is "too far the other way" because some developers throw everything they have at making a whiz-bang widget? How about just not using that widget instead of using it to cast the platform in a negative light?
Because he's talking about the capabilities (what app developers are able to do to your home screen) of each platform.
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Because almost every single widget is that way. I don't know what it is about Android, but it seems to encourage absolutely awful design. Maybe it's because Metro is very specific and sparse that WP is less visually offensive. Maybe it's the design tools available. I have no idea. But the number of Android widgets I've found that look even moderately good can be counted on one hand.
"Because almost every single widget is that way." Pure unadulterated BS. Carry on. Edit: The mod down is funny. So "almost every" Android widget has "far too attention grabbing and obtrusive- silly animations of clouds moving in front of a sun, nonsense like that" now? Almost every single one? Because that's what he said. I actually have several Android devices and it is absolutely not true that almost every widget i…
But the vast, vast majority of apps are not. And that carries through to widgets as well. As I said, I don't know exactly why that is- poor guidelines on Google's party, bad tools, I don't know. But Android is hugely inconsistent.
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The 3rd party app criticism is in my view an outdated one. One year ago would have been premature to make a declaration on the availability of 3rd party apps for the Windows platform since it was still relatively new. Windows Phone has been catching up and can probably do so more quickly now that the phone and desktop OSes can use similar code. Edit: Since I am being downvoted for my opinion, I will add some evidence…
That's not evidence, that's just a claim from Microsoft's marketing. The code-sharing doesn't apply to any current desktop applications - it only applies to the hypothetical future Metro-based desktop apps. And it's irrelevant anyways. You can't expect a user to stick with an incomplete platform when there is viable competition, based solely on promises that the situation will improve. In fact, since Microsoft has an…
Making this change likely involves significant capital cost investment that is not done lightly and without a great deal of forethought. You think it's a coincidence that this gets announced 2 days after the Surface (which is clearly a bridging device) and a week after leaks appears for a new XBox (what OS do you think that will run)?
This whole thing has pretty obviously been planned out a long time ago, and Microsoft are starting to lay down their cards to show their hand. And it's increasingly looking like they have been putting together a pretty strong hand.
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"Because almost every single widget is that way." Pure unadulterated BS. Carry on. Edit: The mod down is funny. So "almost every" Android widget has "far too attention grabbing and obtrusive- silly animations of clouds moving in front of a sun, nonsense like that" now? Almost every single one? Because that's what he said. I actually have several Android devices and it is absolutely not true that almost every widget i…
Don't make me out to be some sort of fanboy- I am an Android user myself. I'm not particularly interested in unduely bashing the platform. But I don't see how you can possible argue against the fact that Android has, far and away, the weakest UI out of iOS, Android and WP. That isn't always the case- the Gmail app, for instance, is fantastic. So is Maps. On the third party side, so is the new beta of Spotify. But the…
As far as your question of why Android apps look like crap sometimes I would imagine that devs have an easier time making money in the iOS app store so they make a larger effort polishing the apps that they put in there. Some apps are exactly the same between Android and iOS like Pulse. Some apps have a better iOS counterpart like the Engadget app. And of course, some very similar apps have better Android versions like gReader vs. Feedler.
I have devices that run iOS, Android and Windows Phone and for many reasons, I use my Android devices 90 percent of the time and the 10 percent of the time I use the other stuff it has nothing to do with the quality of the apps.